Commitment

here are a lot of excuses people make for not making healthy decisions. Lord knows, I've probably used all the ones you've heard, and made up a few myself.  But by far, my favorite excuse has always been

"I've got to get my head right before I can start."

Now, I know what I mean when I say it, and it sounds Really Good. But the reality, is that it's just another reason I use to keep from doing what I know to do to be healthy....namely, devote the time it takes to prep my food, and get my ass off the couch and moving around a track somewhere.

What I always meant by that statement was that when my head is 'right, everything is clicking, I'm all jazzed up about starting everything up again, I'm motivated, excited, and driven to do the damn thang.

Generally, it is rare that I feel this way until wayyy into the process, when my body starts responding to all the positive changes and my energy starts coming back up to 'normal' levels.  It shouldn't matter where my head's at when I start something, as long as I commit to following through with what I know to be the right course of action.

It's not a head thing....it's a commitment thing.

The question I should be asking myself is whether I'm willing to make a commitment to myself.  I make commitments every day....to my work, to my marriage, to my friends and family, even to my dogs. I never have any trouble with the follow-through on any of them, it's just another thing on my list to attend to.  

So why in the world should it be so different to make a commitment to myself?

What a great question. I wish I had an answer, but the bottom line is that it shouldn't be any different.  A commitment, after all, is a commitment....it shouldn't matter who it's to or what it's about. It only matters that you honor it as much as any other commitment in your life.

Coming into this, I felt like I was kinda shanghaied into getting back into the swing of things, in a way...I had to make a sudden decision and before I knew it, I was committed.  No time to get my head on straight, or to get mentally prepped for the change...the bell rang, and we were off.

Maybe it's better this way. Sometimes I have a tendency to think something to death instead of just getting it over with...sort of like putting alcohol on a cut. You know it's gonna sting, but the longer you think about it, the bigger the sting gets in your mind until you wind up convincing yourself that it's going to be like putting molten lava on your finger and you hit the reject button on the whole thing.  This time, I didn't give myself time to think about it or react....I just acted.

And consequently, I'm very contentedly on day 3 and doing very well, indeed. :)